Mantanis Georgios

Prof. George I. Mantanis was born on the island of Lesvos in September 1966. He was raised in the village of Stypsi and graduated with distinction from the General Lyceum of Kalloni in 1984. He is currently the longest-serving faculty member of the Department of Forestry, Wood Sciences and Design at the University of Thessaly and serves as Director of the Laboratory of Wood Science and Technology. He was a member of the former Department of Wood & Furniture Design and Technology of the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Thessaly from 2002 to 2019, and served as Head of the Department for six academic years (2002–2006, 2012–2014).

He holds a Diploma in Forestry from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1989), specializing in wood technology. After receiving a McIntire–Stennis scholarship, he pursued doctoral studies (1991–1994) in wood science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA, where he obtained his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Raymond A. Young and Prof. Roger M. Rowell. He worked for two years (1996–1997) as a wood technologist at the Forest Research Institute of the former National Agricultural Research Foundation (NAGREF) in Thessaloniki, and for four years (1998–2001) as a researcher at ACM Wood Chemicals Plc (now Chimar Hellas). In 2001, he also briefly served (for less than one year) as a forest engineer in the Greek Forest Service in Lamia.

He possesses extensive experience in scientific and technological aspects of wood and holds two international patents (WO 02/102926, WO 00/74909). He has participated in 15 research projects, serving as principal investigator in six of them. In addition, he has published more than 70 scientific papers in high-impact international journals, authored three book chapters, and presented over 20 papers at national and international conferences. During the period 2018–2025, he served as a member of two doctoral committees for PhD dissertations conducted at Luleå University of Technology (Skellefteå, Sweden). Since December 2017, he has been serving as Co-Editor of the scientific journal Wood Material Science and Engineering (IF: 2.1), published by Taylor & Francis.

He acts as a reviewer for several prestigious scientific journals, including European Journal of Wood and Wood Products, Wood Science and Technology, Wood Material Science and Engineering, BioResources, Wood Research, Maderas. Ciencia y Tecnología, Drvna Industrija, and International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation. From 2016 to 2026, he has been a member of the scientific committee of the technical journal, Ktírio. He frequently contributes articles on a variety of topics to Greek newspapers, such as Kathimerini, Eleftheria, Taxydromos, and Neos Agon, as well as to wood-relating magazines including eWood.gr, Ktírio, and Epipleon. He also regularly delivers lectures on wood science and wooden structures at several Greek conferences and seminars.

His overall research work has received wide international recognition (Google Scholar citations: 3,700; h-index: 29 | Scopus citations: 2,424; h-index: 23). In December 2021, he was elected Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS) in recognition of his scientific work. In October 2023, according to a referred metascience by Ioannidis et al. of Stanford University, his name was included in the Elsevier Data list of the top 2% most cited researchers -of all time- in the field of wood science. He received the same distinction again in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, his biography was included in the English Wikipedia. In February 2026, he was elected Fellow of the Hellenic Agricultural Academy in recognition of his academic and research work.